Doin' the Tourist Thing

The Day in the Life of a Tourist in Cairo!

Today we went to Giza to see the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. It was such a fabulous morning! One thing I've loved about Cairo is that the journey to our destination is often equally as adventurous (if not more) as visiting the actual destination.

Here's an example: We left Maadi (the neighborhood where Ally is staying right now) around 8:30am. The trip to Giza is about an hour long. Well, we took a taxi from Al's flat to the Metro...rode the Metro to the Giza stop...on the Metro, the women on our car were terrified that we were carrying the swine flu. So, when we get on, some of them take our tissues to cover their faces and quickly move away from the obviously infected foreigners. Haha. Then we took a microbus to the pyramids...well... tried to take a microbus to the pyramids. On the microbus, a shady "tour guide" told the driver to take us to his "tour guide business." We ended up in this narrow alley...clearly not the entrance to the pyramids. Ally, in her fabulous Arabic, got furious with the driver, and after a fabulous argument in Arabic, Al won and the driver drove us up to the pyramids. Oh my! Traveling in and around Cairo has been quite interesting!

At the pyramids, we rode camels, climbed down into the tomb of one of the pyramids, took funny pictures with the Sphinx, hiked up the side of one of the pyramids, and wandered around enjoying the fabulous antiquity. Pretty much rocked the tourist persona.

After the pyramids visit, we went to KFC, of course. Haha. I haven't been to a KFC in years! Random.

The tourist trek continued....we headed out to the Egyptian Museum, in downtown Cairo. Wow. The artifacts and historical pieces were almost overwhelming. The museum was so densely packed with reminders of Ancient Egypt. I loved being among the jewelrey, tombs, coffins, statues, and even wigs of the Ancients.

We then explored the American University in Cairo as well as spaced out for a while at a coffee shop. We all needed a second wind.

Then, we ventured to Arzak for cosheri, a tradionally Coptic meal. Cosheri is a mix of pasta, rice, fried onions, chickpeas, lentils, tomato sauce, chili sauce, and lemon juice. Coptic Christians fast for 45 days before Christmas, and cosheri is a meal that they can eat during the fast. The meal was created for Coptics to be able to have protein and fiber in their diets during their fasting period. I like cosheri. It's pretty delicious!

After cosheri, we went to the Nile River for a lovely felucca (sailboat) ride and watched the sunset. Lovely.

After a tightly packed day of excursions and traveling, I am well past being exhausted. Tomorrow, we're going to work at the sewing center and then explore Old Cairo and Coptic Cairo in the afternoon. And, I need to find a BNP Paribas bank, pack for Mt Sinai/Red Sea/Dahab, and make a copy of my passport.

Masalama (Peace Be With You!)

Lyrics I'm Humming:

"Tooti Fruiti" by Little Richie (A taxi driver was playing it for us tonight on the way to the felucca! Hilarious!